Once Upon a Time in the Top Spot: Madonna, “Music"

15 years ago today, Madonna turned her list of #1 UK hits into a double-digit affair when “Music” became her 10th single to cross the pond and hit the top of the charts, an accomplishment which it would soon duplicate in the US.

“Music” was viewed as a comeback single of sorts in the States, due to Madonna's cover of Don McLean's “American Pie” only hitting #29 on the Billboard Hot 100, but in Great Britain she drove the Chevy to the levy and took her cover to #1, which - in case you're not enough of a fan to know when Madonna released what - means that “Music” was actually her second chart-topper of the year in the UK.

In other words, 2000 was a rather good year for Madonna, and it was only destined to get better, with her next single, “Don't Tell Me,” hitting #4 on both sides of the Atlantic.

As for “Music,” the song was, of course, the title track of Madonna's eighth studio album, but it was also her first songwriting collaboration with Mirwais, who - not entirely coincidentally - had one of his own songs, “Disco Science,” turn up in the 2000 film Snatch, directed by Guy Ritchie, a.k.a. Madonna's future husband and, yes, future ex-husband as well. It's also worth noting that right around the same time as the film's release Mirwais also released his second solo album, Production, which featured his first musical collaboration with Madonna on a song called “Paradise (Not for Me),” which ended up on Madonna's Music album as well.

Thankfully, neither “Music” nor Music proved to be isolated collaborations between Madonna and Mirwais: they continued to work together on her albums American Life and Confessions on a Dance Floor, and “It's So Cool,” a song from the sessions for the former album, ended up as a bonus track on her 2009 best-of collection, Celebration. Unfortunately, that's the last time they've written together, but with any luck, perhaps the music will make the two artists come together again someday.